Moehn Brewing Co. Poster, ca. 1905
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GUEST:
This is a picture that my dad got at an auction in the late '60s in Burlington, Iowa. And he was bidding on the picture, somebody else was bidding on the frame, and my dad won it for about $30. And the thing that I like about it is that there's not a single internal combustion engine on here; it's all horses. And, of the brewery, this is the only part that was ever actually built. None of the rest of this was built.
APPRAISER:
There are no internal combustion engines on here, which is a great way of noticing that it's really early.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
The Moehn Brewing Company went out of business during Prohibition. This print was done very shortly after the factory opened, and it would have been a projection of what they thought would happen, given the great sales they were having with beer.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
You can also sort of date it, uh, not just historically, but visually, given the bottles of beer that they show here, with the labels and the tops, which are also consistent with the pre-1920 era.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
$30 would buy a couple of six-packs of beer today.
GUEST:
(laughs): Yeah.
APPRAISER:
I think overall, as an investment, though, it's done very well for itself. As an early American advertising poster advertising beer... Actually, there's a great word for it. We call it breweriana.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
I would suggest that, at auction, this piece would be estimated $1,500 to $2,000.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
The details are fantastic, the condition is fantastic, and it's a treat to see it. It makes me thirsty.
GUEST:
(laughs) Thank you very much, I appreciate that.
APPRAISER:
You're welcome, I'm glad you brought it in.
Appraisal Details
Current Appraised Value: $1,500 - $2,000 (Unchanged)
Lowry notes, "I do not think the value has really changed, although there has been a surge in interest in Breweriana in the past three years."
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